Prefab flexible bag for articles of varying lengths



March 21, 3967 M. c. MAUTHE 3,30,166

PREFAB FLEXIBLE BAG FOR ARTICLES OF VARYING LENGTHS Filed sept. 23, 1965 ATT o mex United States Patent Office Patented Mar. 21 1 967 3,310,166 PREFAB FLEXIBLE BAG FOR ARTICLES OF VARYING LENGTHS Mortimer C. Mauthe, Fond du Lac, Wis., assignor to Bestt Rollr Inc., Fond du Lac, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Sept. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 489,664 3 Claims. (Cl. 206-4S.31)

This invention relates to a size indicator bag for covers for paint rollers and the like.

Covers for paint rollers consist of a stiff tubul-ar core on which is mounted a nap. The nap is classified as to its material and length. Within a specified class of nap the covers are different lengths, for example 7 or 9". The practice has been to have a designated bag for each nap classification and for each cover length. These bags are -usually made of fiexible transparent material on which is printed the manufacturers name, the specification of the nap, and the cover length. This practice requires the maintenance of a large inventory of bags with resultant expense and complex stock control.

The object of the present invention is to lessen such inventory problems by providing identical bags which can be used to enclose covers within the same nap classification no matter what length and also indicate the exact length of the enclosed cover.

This object is accomplished by making an elongated bag closed at one end and open at .the other end so that it m-ay be slid endwise over lthe cover. The bag is long enough t-o receive the longest cover and have a closure portion extending beyond the cover which is tucked back into the .core of the cover to close the open end. There are sets of these bags with a width to properly receive the different lengths of nap, such as short, medium or long nap. Each bag in a set has printed on it the nap classification and a scale of inches starting from the closed end. At the 7 mark and 9" mark the numbers may be enlarged. When a 9 long cover is slid into the bag the 9 marker on the bag will be adjacent the end of the cover and the closure portion is tucked into the c-ore. When a shorter cover is placed in an identical bag the closure portion Iand the portion from the 7" to the 9 marker is tucked into the end of the core so that the 7 marker is adjacent the end of the cover. Thus identical bags can be utilized to enclose different length covers within a nap classification and accurately indicate the length of the cover enclosed.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in or be apparent from the specifications and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a size indicator bag in a fiat empty condition embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a 9" long cover for a paint roller before being placed in the bag of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan View of a 7l long cover having the same class of nap as the cover in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a package consisting of the cover of FIG. 2 placed in the bag of FIG. l with the closure portion of the bag tucked into the core of the cover;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a package consisting of the cover of FIG. 3 placed in the bag of FIG. 1 with the closure portion and the portion from the 7" marker to the 9 marker tucked into the core of the cover;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line '7--7 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of FIG. 1.

Referring -to the drawings there are illustrated two covers for paint rollers each having the same nap classification either of which can be placed in the size indicator bag of this invention. A 9 long paint roller cover, in-di- -cated generally at 10, is shown in FIG. 2. It consists of a stiff tubular core 12 (FIG. 6) on which is mounted in usual fashion a nap 14 (FIG. 6) wihch for sake of illustration is classified ias B-medium nap. A 7" long paint rollet cover, indicated generally at 16, is shown in FIG. 3. It has the same diameter core and nap classification as cover 10. The only difference is that cover 16 is two inches shorter than cover 10.

Either of these covers may be placed in a bag of the kind shown in FIG. 1 and indicated generally at 18. The bag 18, shown in fiat unfilled condition in FIG. 1 is made in a well known manner from thin fiexible transparent plastic or like material. It has a main body Ztl the left end of which is closed by a wall 22 shown in folded-in condition in FIGS. 1 and 7 when the bag lies fiat. The wall 22 will unfold to form a fiat end for the bag when a cover is inserted all the way into the bag. The right end of the bag is open as indicated at 24 (FIG. 8). A tongue 26 extends from the opening 24 far enough so that it may be gripped manually or by automatic machinery to facilitate handling and loading. A scale 28 nine inches long is printed on the bag as shown in FIG. 1 starting with zero -at the left end of the bag. There is a closure portion, indicated by the bracket and reference 30, which extends beyond the scale 28 to provide enough material which, when tucked into the end of the core 12 as shown in FIG. 6, will maintain the right end of the bag closed. When the 9 roller 1t) is inserted all the way into the bag 18 and closure portion 30 is tucked into the core 12 the package will appear as shown in FIG. 4 with the 9 marker of the scale visible adjacent the right end of the roller. When the 7" roller 16 is inserted all the way into the bag 18 and the closure portion 30 and that part of the bag from the 7 mark to the 9" mark is tucked into the end of core 12 the package will appear as shown in FIG. 5 with the 7" marker of scale visible adjacent the right end of the roller.

It may be ldesirable to add enlarged markers opposite those numbers of the scale which correspond with the standardized lengths of the various rollers. For example, the notations 9 COVER and 7" COVER as shown in FIG. 1 may be printed in enlarged type transversely on the bag opposite the same scale number. T-hese will clearly visibly indicate the length of the roller in the bag as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

Thus, the cover 18 by reason of the unique features herein described can be used for rollers of various lengths.

Therefore, the inventory of bags for rollers of the same nap classification is considerably reduced.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A size indicator bag for a tubular cover for a paint roller comprising,

an elongated bag having a closed end and an open end,

said closed end formed by a wall to provide a fiat end for said bag when a cover is inserted all the way into said bag,

visible spaced length indicating means on said bag commencing at said fiat closed end,

said length indicating means terminating at a place spaced inwardly from said open end to provide a closure portion, said closure portion being long enough to be tucked into a tubular cover when in said bag to `close said open end.

2. A size indicator bag for tubular members of varying length comprising:

an elongated b-ag of liexible transparent material having a closed end and an open end,

said closed end formed by a wall to provide a at end for said bag when a cover 1s inserted all the way into said bag,

visible spaced length indicating means printed on said bag extending from said flat closed end to a termination place spaced inwardly from said open end,

the part of said bag between said open end and said Atermination place constituting a closure portion adapted to be tucked into a tubular member when in said bag to close said open end,

said length indicating means having designations appearing adjacent the end of 'a tubular member when inserted all the Way into the bag to visibly indicate the length of a tubular member so enclosed.

3. A package comprising,

a tubular cover for a paint roller,

a transparent exible bag enclosing said cover, said bag having a closed end engaged with one end of sai-d cover, said bag having a closure portion tucked into the other end of said cover, and

visible indicia on said bag adjacent said other end of said cover designating the length of said cover,

said bag being characterized by having another visible indicia to designate lanother length of cover which said bag is adapted to enclose.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1910 Greve 229-92 3/1929 Gregg 206-46 

3. A PACKAGE COMPRISING, A TUBULAR COVER FOR A PAINT ROLLER, A TRANSPARENT FLEXIBLE BAG ENCLOSING SAID COVER, SAID BAG HAVING A CLOSED END ENGAGED WITH ONE END OF SAID COVER, SAID BAG HAVING A CLOSURE PORTION TUCKED INTO THE OTHER END OF SAID COVER, AND VISIBLE INDICIA ON SAID BAG ADJACENT SAID OTHER END OF SAID COVER DESIGNATING THE LENGTH OF SAID COVER, SAID BAG BEING CHARACTERIZED BY HAVING ANOTHER VISIBLE INDICIA TO DESIGNATE ANOTHER LENGTH OF COVER WHICH SAID BAG IS ADAPTED TO ENCLOSE. 